Bloodhound Team Unveiled

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona on Monday unveiled the department’s newest crime fighters: bloodhounds.

At the unveiling of the Orange County Sheriff’s Reserves bloodhound team, deputies and volunteers showed how the canines’ sensitive noses can help fight crime as well as help find people--such as a lost child, a trapped victim, or an Alzheimer’s patient who has wandered away.

Duke and Max--two of the department’s four bloodhounds--were let loose with deputies in tow at Irvine Regional Park and quickly found a man who was hiding.

The Sheriff’s Department deploys other dogs such as German shepherds and Labrador retrievers to sniff out drugs and explosives, or catch suspects. But bloodhounds--because of their sensitive noses--are increasingly used in investigations, said Sheriff’s Lt. Patrick Lee, who is in charge of the reserve team. “They have the Cadillac of noses in the dog world,” Lee said.

“They don’t bite,” Carona assured onlookers. “They only drivel.”